


make a wish and make it a good one

by shadowtraveled (meteorfest)



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, also has a bit of reynabeth because fuck yeah otps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-19
Updated: 2014-08-19
Packaged: 2018-02-13 20:01:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2163378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meteorfest/pseuds/shadowtraveled
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With a little help from Hecate, Poseidon's going to make sure his son gets one birthday wish that comes true. Or maybe it doesn't take any magic at all for Percy to get his wish.</p>
            </blockquote>





	make a wish and make it a good one

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from nrice1997 on tumblr for Percy's birthday, even though I got it done late. Oh well, can't be on time every year!

For his son’s eighteenth birthday, Poseidon decided to secretly gift Percy with one wish. He pulled in some favors, specifically making good Hecate’s promise of one favor for the help he’d given her in restoring her favored city after Zeus had sent a storm its way. The witch-goddess had promised him any favor and all Poseidon asked was for a simple set of birthday candles that would grant the wish made on them. Hecate, perplexed and intrigued, cast her magic on the candles and handed them over to Poseidon, who brought them to his beloved Sally the morning of their son’s birthday.

”Place these on Percy’s birthday cake,” he told her, slipping the candles into her hand. He pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek, then handed her a small package. “And give him this when he opens presents. I wish I could make it to the party.”

"He’ll be glad you sent a present," Sally replied. She knew Poseidon couldn’t make it to birthday parties, being a god with so much to do. It was just how things were. At least Poseidon had been able to bring a gift. "Thank you."

Poseidon smiled and left the apartment, hoping that his son would enjoy both his gift and the wish.

* * * * *

Eighteenth birthdays were the best, Percy decided. Oh, sure everyone looked forward to their eighteenth birthday, becoming a legal adult, buying cigarettes (just because you could now, whether you actually smoked or not; Percy didn’t). There was just something even better about turning eighteen when you were a demigod. It meant you survived another year and eighteen years was a milestone that many demigods didn’t hit.

Percy almost hadn’t made it. Gaea had been determined to take them down. Seventeen days ago, the prophecized seven demigods had fought against her, joined by the gods themselves to defeat Gaea and her remaining giants at the foot of Mount Olympus in Greece. It had been the hardest battle Percy had ever faced and, if it hadn’t been for Jason frying the giant who’d been about to squash Percy like a bug, the son of Poseidon wouldn’t have made it.

Gods, it was only seventeen days ago. It felt like seventeen years. After the battle, they’d been brought back to Camp Half-Blood, where Nico and Reyna had stopped the Roman attack and were negotiating peace between the camps. The gods had stepped in and ended the long war between the Greeks and Romans, Athena had been given her honor back and re-inducted into the lost Capitoline Triad, as recognized by the Romans. Everything had been going well after the war, things finally settling down and life becoming peaceful again.

And then Percy had broken up with Annabeth.

It had torn both of them apart. He knew she loved him and he loved her, but Percy had come to realize a few things in the last days of the war. As much as he loved Annabeth, he’d realized that he didn’t love her the way he had before. The ideas he’d had of living with her in New Rome had lost their luster quickly when he understood that the last couple of weeks had started to drive them apart. He realized that, even though she loved him, she was slowly falling in love with someone else. He’d seen the way she acted with Reyna, how she looked at the other girl. What was that saying? That if you fell in love with two people, go with the second, because if you truly loved the first person, you wouldn’t fall in love with the second.

Something like that anyways. 

Annabeth had been heartbroken, but admitted that Percy was right - something that didn’t happen all too often. They’d kissed and brought things between them to an end. 

And maybe seventeen days was long enough to mourn their loss, maybe it wasn’t, Percy didn’t know. What he did know was that, just the day before, Annabeth had said she’d be bringing Reyna with her to Percy’s birthday party. Percy had smiled at her and told her that was great, that he was looking forward to seeing both of them.

As he and Sally set things up at their spot in Central Park while they waited for the others to arrive, Percy was becoming more and more sure that he wasn’t actually looking all that forward to seeing Annabeth and Reyna, after all. It hadn’t been that long since he and Annabeth had broken up and seeing his ex-girlfriend with the girl she liked now on his birthday probably wasn’t going to make the occasional that happy for him. He was going to have to make the most of it, though.

His friends came soon enough. Jason and Piper were the first to arrive, having been in the city for some time together. Annabeth was right behind them, walking alongside Reyna up to the meeting place. She gave Percy a hug and, after a moment’s hesitation, a quick kiss to the cheek before wishing him a happy birthday. Reyna, for her part, shook Percy’s hand and promptly told him she wasn’t kissing him, even if it was his birthday. Leo was late, giving an excuse of having lost track of time while tinkering with things in the bunker. Frank and Hazel arrived just a little bit later, with both of them apologizing for their tardiness, which Percy excused because he knew Frank had his hands full these days, as Camp Jupiter’s newest praetor. 

Percy was surprised that Nico wasn’t with Hazel and Frank. He’d been sure they’d drag the son of Hades with them. “Hey, Hazel, where’s your brother?”

Hazel gave a slight frown, shaking her head. “He said he’d meet us here,” she told Percy. She looked a little anxious, considering her brother’s tendency to just slip away, but it was clear that she’d believed Nico when he said he would meet them. “He’ll be here, Percy.”

Percy nodded, hoping that Nico would keep his word and show.

* * * * *

An hour after the party officially started - lunch served and everyone telling stories about Percy while the son of Poseidon wondered if it was possible to drown himself with Coke - Nico finally showed up. The son of Hades apologized for being late and joined the others, handing Percy a carefully wrapped package with a half-smile.

"Happy birthday, Percy," he told the older demigod. 

"Thanks," Percy replied, giving him a smile back. "Glad you could make it."

Nico gave an apologetic shrug. “I got held up. Mitchell told told me I wasn’t allowed to leave without a haircut.”

Percy noticed now that Nico’s hair was actually shorter, not just caught up in the ponytail that he’d taken to wearing. It was neatly trimmed, still damp from the aforementioned haircut, and just reaching past Nico’s ears in the front, parted on the left side. In the back, it was an undercut, trimmed and shaved close to the skull, showing off the back of Nico’s neck.

It was a surprisingly good look for the younger demigod, Percy noted. Combined with a much lighter wardrobe than usual, just the black jeans and a rich red t-shirt with a grey and black grunge design, foregoing the heavy aviator jacket, Nico looked  _really_  good. 

"You’re staring, Percy," Nico said.

"O-oh. Sorry." Percy scratched the back of his head and offered to get Nico a slice of the pizza they still had. "The haircut looks good, by the way."

Nico gave a nod. “Thanks.” He took the plate Percy offered him and moved to join the others. 

If Percy stared after him a little, no one mentioned it.

* * * * *

Presents were opened soon after Nico joined the party. Percy received some nice presents, some gag presents. Paul had gotten him an ipod, Sally had given him a bag of blue candy and a couple of CDs from his favorite band. Among the other presents were drachma, a special order enchanted Swiss army knife, a new shield, and tickets to a gladiator match in New Rome later that month. 

Sally pulled out the cake after all the presents had been opened and the wrapping paper properly collected and thrown into the trash bag so it didn’t fly all over the park. Paul got out more paper plates and plastic forks while Sally put the candles on the cake and lit them.

"Percy, get over here," she told her son, waving him over.

As Percy stood and joined her at the table, plopping down on the bench, the rest of the group crowded around to sing to him. Most of the group didn’t have much singing talent - thankfully Piper and Hazel had more than enough to make up for Leo, Jason, and Frank’s off-key caterwauling. Annabeth was decent enough, managed to stay on key with Sally and Paul, though not quite matching the other two girls. Reyna was about on par with Annabeth and, Nico…well, Percy couldn’t tell if Nico was actually singing or just mouthing the words.

He wondered if Nico sung at all. He remembered asking the son of Hades when they’d been trying to open Orpheus’ entrance to the Underworld a couple of years ago. Nico had just shaken his head then, but never really given an answer. Now Percy was just curious.

There was actually a lot about Nico that had Percy curious. As long as he’d known the younger demigod, there was a lot he didn’t know about the son of Hades. He had no idea what Nico liked, what he disliked. Did Nico have a favorite color? What kind of music did he like? What kind of person did he like?

Percy mulled over that last question in his mind. Of all the questions that had come up, that one was suddenly the most important. What kind of person did Nico like? Percy had once thought that Nico liked Annabeth, but he doubted that now. Nico paid little attention to the daughter of Athena, barely looking her way. He seemed to be more interested in crossing his arms and…watching Percy.

"Percy, your candles are melting all over the cake," Nico pointed out. "Blow them out, already."

"And don’t forget to make a wish!" Hazel added. She gave Percy a pat on the back. "Come on, Percy."

"Okay, okay, don’t rush my wish!" Percy replied, laughing as he pushed aside his thoughts about Nico.  Well, mostly. He had one last thought on the younger demigod as he leaned in to blow out the candles.  _I wish I was closer to Nico._

The candles sparked once after Percy blew them out, crackling gold briefly before streaming smoke upward into the air. Percy gave a grin and plucked the candles out of the cake, sticking the ends in his mouth and sucking off the frosting while Sally cut the cake. Percy got the first piece, being the birthday boy, then Sally started handing out pieces of cake to whoever came next. Soon, mouths all around were colored blue by frosting and cake. Percy grinned at his friends, all of them united by one simple color.

Even Nico, with only a few bites of his cake gone, had a nice ring of blue around his lips. Percy’s grin fell into a softer smile as he watched Nico talking to Reyna. The two of them had become rather close during their journey to get the Athena Parthenos to Camp Half-Blood. It was actually pretty nice to see that Nico was finally making friends, like Frank, Reyna, and Jason. Though maybe there was just a little bit of jealousy in Percy, because Nico was so much more open with them, people he’d known less than a year, than he was with Percy, who’d known him since the day he’d helped rescue Nico from Dr. Thorn.

But that’s part of why Percy had made the wish he had; he wanted to be closer to Nico. He wanted to get to know the son of Hades, to be friends with Nico, and…well, maybe a little more. That question came into his mind again, what kind of person did Nico like?

He wanted to know. 

* * * * *

The party went on for a couple more hours. Most of it was just talking and hanging out, eating more blue cake, and teasing Percy. At one point, Jason brought out a frisbee and challenged everyone to a game - even getting Nico to play. They spread out while Sally and Paul watched, content to let the teenagers be teenagers; it was so rare that demigod teens got to just be normal teenagers and if Sally could see her son and his friends enjoy a day away from peace negotiations, training, and monsters, that’s all she ever wished for herself.

As the sun became to lower, the group started to splinter off. Frank and Hazel had to get back to Camp Half-Blood so Butch could take them to Camp Jupiter in the morning. Annabeth had promised to go to a movie with Reyna and they were planning to have dinner first, so they wished Percy one more ‘happy birthday’ before heading off. Leo gave Percy a salute and headed off, saying he needed to get back to his plans - whatever they were; the son of Hephaestus was keeping them very quiet. Jason and Piper stayed behind a little while longer, just to hang out because they weren’t in a hurry, but even they eventually headed off, Jason putting his arm around Piper’s waist and leading her away.

That left Nico still there. Sally and Paul were packing things away, carrying boxes full of birthday presents and left overs to the car, while Percy stayed back to watch over the rest of the stuff. The son of Poseidon sat down on the bench of the picnic table they’d been using that day, next to Nico.

"Hey," he said. "Thanks for coming. It was really good to see you today."

Nico gave a light shrug. “I wouldn’t have skipped out on this. You’re my friend.”

Percy smiled at him. “That’s good to hear. I was beginning to think you didn’t like me that much.”

Nico was silent for a moment, staring off towards the treeline with his arms crossed over his chest. “Well, now you know better, right?”

"Right." Percy gave a puff of amusement, leaning back against the table. "Still, I wish I knew what you did think of me. You say we’re friends."

"Shouldn’t that be enough?" Nico’s question was soft, like he was holding something back. "What more would you want?"

Percy looked at Nico, noting how the younger boy’s fingernails were beginning to dig into his arms. He bit his lip briefly before lightly touching his hand to Nico’s shoulders. “What if I said I wanted to be closer to you?” he asked.

Nico looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

What  _did_  Percy mean? He said he wanted to be closer to Nico. He’d made that wish earlier. How close did he want to be to Nico? What more did he want, besides Nico’s admission that he was the younger teen’s friend?

Seventeen days ago, Percy had broken up with Annabeth, after realizing that she was falling in love with someone else. He remembered that quote, about choosing the second person, the one that had been his comfort when he realized that his then-girlfriend would be happier with Reyna than she was with him, because she wasn’t as in love with him as she was before. Thinking about his questions about Nico, Percy realized that Annabeth wasn’t the only one falling in love with a second person.

"Percy?"

Percy moved, leaning in and pressing his lips against Nico’s in a soft kiss. He could feel Nico tensing into the kiss, but held it for a long moment before the younger teen relaxed and kissed back. It wasn’t a deep kiss, nothing too intrusive, just a chaste kiss that lingered for a couple of moments until Percy pulled away. 

"Do you want to hang out with me a little more?" Percy asked. He hoped Nico would say yes. "I want to get to know you better."

Nico hesitated, clearly a bit thrown for a loop by both the kiss and Percy’s question. Eventually he gave a nod. “Sure.”

Percy gave a wide grin. “Great!”

* * * * *

Maybe seventeen days was long enough to get over a broken heart. Maybe it wasn’t. Maybe there was power in a birthday wish, or maybe Nico had been waiting for Percy to return his feelings for a long time. There was really no knowing for sure. At least on Percy’s part, that is. 

Hecate knew. She knew there was still magic in those candles, that the wish hadn’t been granted through Poseidon’s gift and Hecate’s magic. It had been granted through Percy’s own actions and Nico’s own wishes. She sent Sally a message, telling her to hold onto the candles for Percy’s next birthday. The magic in them would keep for another year. Percy hadn’t needed the magic to grant such a simple wish as  _I wish I was closer to Nico_.

He had that power in himself. It didn’t take a gift of magic for Percy to be closer to Nico. All he’d had to do was reach out to him. Reach out, he had, and both of them were happier for it. 


End file.
